The leading cause of hospitalization in the U.S. — low-risk childbirth — can incur costs ranging $1,189 to $11,986, depending where the delivery occurs, according to a study published in Health Affairs.
In 2011, maternity care costs at hospitals totaled $15.1 billion for 3.8 million admissions, making childbirth one of the most expensive conditions for inpatient care, according to the report. To analyze the variation in these costs, researchers looked at facility costs for low-risk childbirth from the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, which contained almost 275,000 hospitalizations at 463 hospitals with at least 100 low-risk childbirths. Low-risk childbirths are defined as those with no identified maternal comorbidities or obstetric risk factors, according to the report.
They found the average facility costs for low-risk childbirth was $4,485, but ranged to more than two-fold for vaginal deliveries. For caesarian deliveries, average cost ranged from $1,249 to $13,688.
The data revealed rural, government and nonprofit hospitals, or those with low volumes of childbirth, low proportions of childbirth covered by Medicaid and longer inpatient stays incurred higher costs. However, hospital characteristics accounted for only 13 percent of the variation, according to the report.
Higher costs were not associated with better care either — researchers found they were associated with childbirth at hospitals with higher rates of serious maternal morbidity.
"The large variation in estimated facility cost for low-risk childbirths among hospitals suggests that hospital practices might be an important contributor to variation in cost and that there may be opportunities for cost reduction," the authors wrote.
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